Month: April 2015

In a direct continuation of my last post, I realized today that my CV wasn’t necessarily completely – um, how do you say – complete.
Although that definitely explains why I hadn’t heard back from anyone. *sigh*

Applying for jobs, and the requisite “Tell me a little about yourself” part of the interview has never been something that I enjoy. While I am really comfortable singing my own praises to psych myself up for whatever, putting them on paper and then singing in front of other people (who may or may not want to pay me for said praises) still leaves me with a strange taste in my mouth.

I’m fully aware that it’s a necessary evil in the working world – confidence and self-assuredness are very important skills that practically every job position requires, even if they’re not expressed on the posting. I have done enough public displays of crazy that I know I can handle most anything that comes my way – baring jobs that I’m just not physically capable of doing. Like, defensive tight end.

This guy, I ain’t.

I really can’t put my finger on why, or the basic core reasoning for this feeling. I just know that I hate it. And I always have.
Although, “hate” may be too strong a word. Perhaps “strongly dislike” is better. Yeah – I strongly dislike the job application process. I do it, and I do interviews; dare I say I do interviews really well. I may not necessarily end up with the job, but it’s usually because I don’t have additional skills or the time to devote to the job. You know, information that wasn’t included in the initial posting, but should have been.

But I do it. Even though it’s not fun. Because I have to, and because I’m an adult.

It just makes me feel like a monkey. Especially when I’m asked to prove that I can perform the skills that are on my CV. Like, they don’t believe it and they need to test me.

Worse than this though, is not hearing back from anyone at all. Thus begins a never-ending cycle of “did they even get my email?/did they bother to read my email?/is my email floating helplessly through dead cyberspace?/should i send another email? (maybe this time with a better CV)/never mind i’m just gonna eat whiskey-flavored ice cream”

Seriously, why has nobody invented that yet?

Anyway – I have done this enough times to know that I am comfortable with my knowledge and know-how and street smarts and book smarts. I have mad skillz and I can use/utilize them anywhere and anytime.

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Normally in Israel, Passover symbolizes the end of Winter and the start of Spring. Apparently, the weather gods have their wires crossed because it’s been raining fairly non-stop for the last three days, complete with lightening and thunder.

Taken 2 days ago, or 2 months ago?

This only somewhat hampered our plans for the last days of Passover, in that it was really freaking cold in Jerusalem and we did not bring appropriate clothing. And then we got wet. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

When we last met, Nooshkin and I were planning to have a very uneventful day at home. Which is exactly what we did.
Except for that one part when I got Nooshkin a balloon and she let go of it while we were outside and because it was full of helium it floated away and she watched it and it resulted in the most horrendously awful tear-induced meltdown that there ever was.

The only reason there are no pictures is because A) I’m not horrible, B) I was busy comforting Nooshkin, C) I was busy telling her “I told you so” and “This is why you should listen to me, D) I was fascinated by how quickly the balloon flew away, E) All of the above, F) Everything except “A”.

In all seriousness, it was pretty bad. Complete with “But I want it!” while tears streamed down her cheeks. *sigh*

On Tuesday, Stinky Face joined us for a trip to Akko to meet up with some family. As Hubby had the car we took the scenic route on the train.

Drawing pictures for the cousins

And enjoying the view

We spent the day walking around the Port and Old City of Akko, and by “day” I mean about three hours because the trip up to Akko took 2.5, and that long again on the way back. But still, fun was had and we got to see the water (Nooshkin was particularly happy about that), and it was hot enough to require sunscreen.

Cousin T, Nooshkin, and Stinky Face

“Look, water!”

Hubby met up with us for dinner at a fancy-schmancy meat restaurant that we did not know existed except that it’s been around for a few years. It was very delicious and Nooshkin acted semi-appropriately.

Wednesday was spent at home recuperating, except that Nooshkin insisted on going to the park even though it was 100 degrees outside. Actually, yes – 100 degrees. Needless to say the AC was on when Hubby came home.

She insisted on dressing herself

Thursday was spent traveling to and hanging out in Jerusalem with Stinky Face. Due to the previously-mentioned weather we hung out indoors and tried to not get blown away. Nooshkin was kind of amused and bemused by the crazy weather, and reacted fairly appropriately by running around to keep warm.
We then made our way to Efrat, where we spent the remainder of Passover and Shabbat with our fake-family. This involved even more food and additional thunderstorms, and a pretty amusing game of Trivial Pursuit.

Now that the holiday is over, the kitchen has been returned to normal. Nooshkin is back in school and I am back doing the endless piles of laundry that have accumulated. At least there aren’t any dishes.

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Happy Spring Holidays to all! Don’t you love it when the gods’ schedules are synched? At least Greek Orthodox Easter is next Sunday.

Living in Israel when major holidays overlap is always crazy. That’s why we’re avoiding Jerusalem until the very end when everyone else has already gone and it will be somewhat calmer.

Friday was spent cooking so much food. But we had plenty of guests over for the Seder and so most of the food was eaten. But then I had to go shopping to replenish the food that was eaten, and now I can’t find the shelves in my fridge.

Most of the food was standard fare, but I made special-for-Passover brownies originally posted on Lulu and Lattes that our guests called “Sorcery” – mostly because they didn’t taste like Passover. When you have a holiday where even scrambled eggs taste different, making something that tastes like a regular food item is key.
These brownies are completely gluten-free and took about 2 minutes to put together, so I will probably add them to my regular rotation too. (recipe is below!)

Yesterday I, Hubby, Nooshkin, and Stinky Face went to the Game of Thrones Exhibit in Tel Aviv. It was pretty cool and there were many opportunities for my inner nerd to be very happy.

Stinky Face and the Restless Mama

The Exhibit is here for the rest of the week, but there were a limited number of tickets available. Naturally, this didn’t stop people from trying to get in anyway – so there was a separate entrance for people who didn’t have tickets. But we were smart and ordered the tickets as soon as we found out this was happening, which was three weeks ago – go planning ahead!

Some of the costumes on display

Dragon Eggs!

There were some costumes, props, and interactive stations where you pretend to get burned by a dragon or turned into a White Walker. The lines were kind of long, so we didn’t do them.

The only line worth waiting in was for the Throne.

Future Queen of Westeros

This line (surprisingly) went pretty fast, but that’s because there was an actual bouncer whose sole job was to kick people off the Throne so everyone else could have their turn.

We also walked around the Tel Aviv Port a little, but it was getting dark and cold (and we got caught in some spray) so we didn’t stay too long.

Nooshkin and I are hanging out today and we will probably wreck havoc around the neighborhood after wrecking havoc around the apartment.

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375; Grease a 9×13 pan. Mix ingredients together and spread in pan with spatula. Batter will be thick but do not add water. Just mix it well. Bake for 23 minutes. — OR — Shape into cookies and bake 12–15 minutes. Do not undercook.

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Exactly one month after Purim, hamentaschen, and baked goods, the house needs to be scrubbed spotless for Passover. Because Judaism is full of hilarity.

In keeping with the theme of Jewish holidays, Passover celebrates the liberation of the Biblical Hebrews from generations of slavery in Ancient Egypt. The Hebrews were in Egypt primarily because of a pretty serious drought during the time of Joseph, and he was the Royal Vizier to the Pharaoh at the time (which meant he had connections) so he convinced his entire family to move to save themselves.
And things were pretty good, until along came another Pharaoh who “didn’t remember Joseph” (Biblical quote, too). He also seemed pretty unsettled by the sheer number of Hebrews that were currently taking up residence in his hometown, and decided to make them work for a living. And then work for no living.

Fast forward a couple of generations, and we meet Moses. Moses is alive because his mother put him in a basket down by the (Nile) river, and Pharaoh’s daughter happened to be playing in the reeds; she finds him and decides to adopt him, knowing exactly what he is. For the next few decades Moses is raised by the very people who make his peoples’ lives miserable, and he kind of loses it.

Moses runs away and finds himself; he also finds god in a burning bush that was not consumed. He comes back to Egypt a miracle worker and broken record. Essentially, this happens:

About three days later Pharaoh comes to his senses (what?!) and gives chase to the Hebrews. Moses, having now gotten over his fear of public speaking, intervenes and asks for god’s help. The Red Sea splits and the Hebrews are saved; the Egyptians can’t do the backstroke very well and drown.

I don’t remember what specific event this date commemorates (thanks, Bestamama and Pa, for that super expensive Jewish education!). But I think it’s the date the Hebrews left Egypt.

In their haste to leave Egypt, the Hebrews didn’t have enough time to let their bread rise (which I find hard to believe. They weren’t working at all, and there were 10 plagues of increasing creepiness that they were immune to. Really, they had no idea what was coming?). So that’s why we eat matza.
Generations of rabbis added stringency upon stringency, to the point where Jews today cannot have anything from any kind of grain product – no bread, crackers, cheerios, pasta, cookies, whiskey, bourbon; anything fun, really.
But – not only can we not eat any of these items, we can’t own any of them either.

Hence, the cleaning. I’m completely sure that this is how the concept of Spring Cleaning originated.

Passover starts on Friday night, so this week is being devoted to cleaning, shopping, and cooking. Nooshkin is naturally very excited for all the things, especially the cleaning and shopping.

Putting nooshkin to work.

Stinky Face is coming for the entire holiday and will be sleeping on the couch, which everyone is super excited about (no, really). We have lots of fun stuff planned, most of which does not involve cleaning out the fridge and oven.